Bladensburg National Park

Today we drove west over gibber and mitchell grass plains to the boundary of 'Melrose' and then into Bladensburg National park which used to be a station property. Much of the park is a range of hills that must be capped with a more resistant rock than that of the surrounding plain.

Some sections of the park are quite accessible from the Winton side, with designated picnic spots and tracks, but on this eastern side there is just a track of sorts that climbs to a tower. We elected to leave our car at the bottom and hiked up. I'm glad we did because we were in a different world up there on the plateau - spinifex, flowering shrubs, flowering eucalypts and splendid views of the plains to the north and east.

After returning to our car we boiled the billy while we ate lunch under a shady tree contemplating the 180 degree view and the big sky. And a bonus on the way home - a male Crested Bellbird (first I've seen), dozens of Crimson Chats and flocks of budgies.

Flowering eucalypts and spinifex on top of the range.

View north towards Winton

View to the east, 'Melrose' airstrip and homestead in the centre.

Solanum sp.

Emu Bush Eremophila sp.

Apple Bush Pterocaulon sp.

Grasshopper, camouflaged.

Reptile, also camouflaged.

Update: Blotch-tailed Earless Dragon (Pebble Dragon) Tympanocryptis cephala

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